Publisher's Deception on Indexing Claim - Authors, Beware of predatory journals!!!

Recently I came across websites of numerous Journals where they claim they are Indexed in Research Gate, Academia, Researcher Id and etc.., to my surprise. How come a journal gets indexed here? All these websites are Social networking websites. With an example, I will show you how an author can be deceived.

The above picture is a snapshot of a real journal. 

1. The first thing we see is "Thomson Reuters' Research ID: ******** Indexed Journals" This is what the publishers say. Actually, it is "Thomson Reuters Researcher ID". From the FAQ section of Researcher Id I find this:

What is ResearcherID.com?

ResearcherID is a website where invited researchers can register for a unique ResearcherID number. At this site, users can: Update their profile information; Build their publication list using Web of Science search services or uploading a file; Select to make their profile public or private. Registered as well as non-registered users can search the Researcher Registry to view profiles and find potential collaborators.

From the above answer given, it is clear that the Researcher Id is meant for Authors and not for Publishers. This is something misleading and FYI, Impact factor calculated and published by Thomson Reuters (Journal Citation Reports) is highly recognisable and recommended metric by almost all indexing and abstracting institutions. Researcher Id is not an indexing portal and the publishers claim is not valid here.

2. The journal is having a Google Scholar profile Link!!! It's again surprising. Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Google Scholar profile is available for authors i.e Individuals. I am surprised how can a publisher have his Google scholar profile which doesn't make sense to me. The search engines collect metadata and other information from recognised websites. To know more about how the journals are included into google scholar read their inclusion policy. Create a profile and feeding the metadata is not a proper way of getting indexed in Google Scholar.

3. The impact factors mentioned above is not the same impact factors calculated by Thomson Reuters. The report is published by Clarivate Analytics which is successor of Thomson Reuters on publishing the report called "Journal Citation Reports"  

4. The same website claims to be indexed in websites like Research Gate, Academia and etc..,. These are social networking sites for authors where they can meet and collaborate on research works. Here the authors use to feed their information about published papers, working papers, conferences, Books, datasets and much more.., So, Publisher claiming that they are indexed here doesn't make any sense.

5. Publishers like these, show they are indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ and other reputable indexing directories. It is your duty to check the originality of information provided. Beware of such predatory publishers and Submit your original research work to reputed journals. It is also the duty of academicians to not to encourage such publishers. Many academicians publish their works in such journals because it's easy and fast to publish. The point to be noted is does it worth to call yourself a researcher publishing in such journals? I believe this is a corrupted way and the path leads to nowhere but its just a circle you are journeying. Let's do original research to explore ideas.

Let me know your viewpoints and Kindly point out publishers or journals you find to be predatory. Leave the points in the comment section below.

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Note: The post is to create awareness among academicians and not an act to prove someone's mistake. if any publisher finds such mistakes in their journals. Kindly take it as a constructive comments.

One more example here:

Elsevier Publishing Campus - Much needed platform for researchers

I am a research scholar and gradually it took me 3 years to understand the research world and still learning. It took me so much time to understand the framework of research and publishing. To  be honest,I have just understand how things are working in research world and I have so much to do. To be a good researcher you should first be able to explain what's your research is about. There is no use of research if you cant present your ideas through a paper which is read and understood by others. For this you need to understand how to write a journal article or submitting a book proposal, learning how to conduct peer review for a high impact journal, understanding research and publishing ethics or writing a successful grant application. This is where Elsevier Publishing campus comes in to help the researchers with their resources to help you achieve your goals. The Elsevier Publishing Campus offers free lectures, interactive training and professional advice.

"Researchers today need to secure funding, collaborate, share data, publish results, commercialize research and demonstrate impact. Early career researchers in particular are under significant pressures and Elsevier is committed to supporting you on your way to publishing a world class journal article or book and developing your career as a successful professional researcher." - Hannah Foreman, Head of Researcher Relations,  Elsevier.

Elsevier Publishing Campus users are also entitled to a 30% discount on ALL Elsevier books and a 10% discount on Elsevier Webshop services and products.

What you get inside campus:

• Interactive training courses guide you carefully through a topic and test your knowledge along the way. Average completion time is 15-30 minutes.
• Online lectures present a topic by leading experts and engage in Q&A towards the end to boost the discussion. Average completion time is 15 minutes.
• LIVE online lectures present a topic by leading experts and are followed by a live Q&A which you can join in! Average completion time is 50 minutes.
• Attending and completing any of the above will result in your being awarded a Certificate of Completion. They will be available at the end of each course of lecture to download and they are automatically stored in your profile.

Taking these courses will help a researcher to develop and get perfect with their skills. I thank Elsevier for creating such useful platform for people like me. Wish other researchers do get benefited by this. Visit: https://www.publishingcampus.elsevier.com for more details. 

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What is an Academic database? What is review of literature?

A review of literature is a process of evaluating the information found in the literature(past studies) related to your selected area of study. All works included in the review must be read, evaluated and analysed, but relationships between the literature must also be identified and articulated, in relation to your field of research. As a process of review of literature, a literature review report is written with the purpose to convey the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. The literature review should provide a context for the research, justify the research, ensure the research hasn't been done before, show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge, enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject, illustrate how the subject has been studied previously, highlight flaws in previous research, outline gaps in previous research, show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field and help refine, refocus or even change the topic. To do this process we need to go through the published articles. Finding and searching the past studies in each journal is almost a impossible task and this where academic databases play a vital role.

An Academic databases (sometimes referred to as abstracting and indexing databases) will find articles from thousands of journals. Search by your keyword to generate a list of results. Using them will save you time and effort compared to searching individual journals and will give you a comprehensive set of journal articles. I recommend you to use these academic databases rather than Search engines (Google)  or Encyclopedia (Wikipedia) because the information included in the databases is of high academic quality.

List of frequently used Multidisciplinary Academic database:

• Ebsco Host
• Google scholar
• Scopus
• ProQuest Central
• Microsoft Academic Search

Apart from the above mentioned multidisciplinary databases there are several specific database for specific disciplines and its branches.

If you need any help or clarifications feel free to drop your queries at comments. 

Plagiarism in breif

Plagiarism is the act of taking another person's writing, conversation, song, or even idea and passing it off as your own. This includes information from web pages, books, songs, television shows, email messages, interviews, articles, artworks or any other medium. Whenever you paraphrase, summarize, or take words, phrases, or sentences from another person's work, it is necessary to indicate the source of the information within your paper using an internal citation. It is not enough to just list the source in a bibliography at the end of your paper. Failing to properly quote, cite or acknowledge someone else's words or ideas with an internal citation is plagiarism.

What is an Internal Citation?

An internal, in-text, or parenthetical citation refers to the practice of giving credit to an author, singer, or speaker by citing their words/ideas within your paper. This internal citation is then referenced at the end of your paper in your 'Works Cited' list (see below).

Internal citations are sometimes called parenthetical citations because they're enclosed by parentheses. It's helpful to think of internal citations as a kind of "tag" indicating what you've borrowed from an author. For every sentence, phrase or idea you borrow you must "tag" it with an internal citation. Each internal citation is then listed alphabetically in a 'Works Cited' page at the end of your paper.

Borrowing the work's structure, format or style without giving credit is also considered plagiarism. Tt is important to remember that merely changing the wording is not enough.

What is a Works Cited Page?

A Works Cited page, also known as a bibliography or reference list, comes at the end of your paper listing all the works (books, articles, Internet sites, etc.) you've quoted, paraphrased or otherwise used to create your paper. The citations are usually listed alphabetically by the authors' last names and typically include the name of the publication, the publisher/date of publication, and the volume, issue and pages if applicable. How works are internally cited and how the citations are arranged in the "Works Cited" page will be determined by the Style Guide (MLA, APA and Turabian) specified by your teacher.

What is 'Common Knowledge'?

Common knowledge needs no internal citation in a paper. Common knowledge includes information that is considered a well-established fact verifiable in five or more sources. It also includes common sayings and proverbs ("look before you leap") and historical dates, places and events.

An example of common knowledge needing no citation: Jane Austen was born in 1775.

What is a 'Unique Phrase'?

A unique phrase does need an internal citation. A unique phrase is one which is coined by an author and used commonly by other authors in a specific genre or discipline, but it is not necessarily a common fact or phrase used by everyone.

(source:http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/whatisplag.php)